U.S. President Donald Trump, declaring a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress on Friday to complete the sale of over $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

A US senator has warned that President Donald Trump may use the tensions Washington has been stocking with Iran as a pretext to sell more bombs to the Saudi regime without congressional approval.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the Trump administration may cite tensions with Iran as an “emergency” to justify supplying more arms to the Riyadh regime.

“I am hearing that Trump may use an obscure loophole in the Arms Control Act and notice a major new sale of bombs to Saudi Arabia (the ones they drop in Yemen) in a way that would prevent Congress from objecting. Could happen this week,” Murphy said.

“Arms control law allows Congress to reject a sale to a foreign country. But Trump would claim the sale constitutes an ‘emergency’ which means Congress can't take a vote of disapproval. It would go through automatically,” he added.

Slaughtermeter downgraded from 140% to 0%
Currently, no chance President Trump will win re-election
Currently…social media thumb on the scale, will prevent it
Zero visibility into algorithms, no explanations, no independent appeal
“Doctored” videos of Pelosi slurs removed as misleading
Enemy press then labels ALL Pelosi slur videos “doctored”
Why not show undoctored and doctored vids for comparison?
2 topics are undiscussible…I can’t even say the words
Some people undiscussible…I can’t even mention their names
Doing so, risks suspension, banning, demonetizing, censorship
Am I being Shadowbanned on Twitter?
I can’t tell, I can’t know, there’s no way to know
Social Media was caught off-guard by candidate Trump in 2016
His “Island of Misfit Toys” supporters are VERY effective

President Donald Trump on Thursday granted Attorney General William Barr new powers to review and potentially release classified information related to the origins of the Russia investigation, a move aimed at accelerating Barr’s inquiry into whether U.S. officials improperly surveilled Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump directed the intelligence community to “quickly and fully cooperate” with Barr’s probe. The directive marked an escalation in Trump’s efforts to “investigate the investigators,” as he continues to try to undermine the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe amid mounting Democratic calls for impeachment proceedings.

While Democrats dither over the virtues of 'Medicare for All', the Trump administration is about to embark on an all-out offensive to lower health-care costs in the US.

According to WSJ, Trump is preparing an executive order that would force health-care providers - hospitals, internists, specialists etc. - to disclose the discounted and negotiated rates for various procedures that they negotiate with insurance companies. The order would force more transparency among health-care pricing, an industry that is accustomed to transacting in private.

The Trump administration’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan drew criticism at the United Nations Wednesday, with European and UN officials saying Palestinians should not be coerced into selling off rights to run their own country.

Addressing the UN’s top body in New York, Jason Greenblatt, the United States envoy on the Middle East, talked up a meeting about boosting the Palestinian economy in Bahrain next month that marks the start of a new US-led peace initiative.

The “Peace to Prosperity” economic workshop, to be held in Manama on June 25-26 and co-hosted with the US, has already been rebuffed by Palestinian officials and business leaders who want their political demands to be addressed in any solution to the decades-old conflict.

Jailed former longtime Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had more than 1,000 communications with the head of a Russia linked firm after Election Day 2016 – and banked more than $400,000 in just five months from the company, unsealed warrants revealed Wednesday.

The information about Cohen was contained in five warrants that prosecutors obtained at the start of the Russia probe.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered yet another of his blistering critiques on the probe, which he termed a 'hoax' that was run by 18 'angry' Democrats.

The warrants tell an alternate story, with numerous suspicious transactions running through an LLC, Essential Consultants, that Cohen initially set up to process payments to porn star Storm Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump.

Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels…back in the news again
Political season is upon us, and some odd traffic coincidences
We’re left to guess why traffic patterns suddenly altered
The fact we can’t tell why…portends regulation
Lack of social media algorithm transparency…
…IS the end of our Republic
Not necessarily a coordinated conspiracy, but same result
Joe Biden has no legislative accomplishments
A career in politics, and NO accomplishments to show?
VP candidate traditionally boring, watered-down version of POTUS
Biden was more boring than President Obama
Now Biden has to select his own VP, that’s even more boring
CNN and MSNBC producing stories out of colorful words
CNN reports Pelosi says she’s getting under POTUS skin
Social media wasn’t able to obtain their desired result in 2016

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has issued a new memo imposing major new restrictions on the methods through which the Pentagon and defense officials are allowed to share information with Congressional offices or committees.

The policy imposes serious limits, telling officials to only give Congress official summaries instead of actual plans, and sets officials within the Pentagon who decide whether a Congressional request can be proven to be legitimate.

This is clearly intended to further limit information sharing at a time when many in Congress are complaining they’re already not being kept sufficiently informed. Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Mac Thornberry (R-TX) warned that the new policy is overstepping the Pentagon’s authority, by “presuming to determine what warrants legislative oversight.”

Webmaster's Commentary:

"increase transparency", MY ASTROLABE!!

This is engineered to build a ruggedized, encrypted intel fortress about critical information, so that Congress cannot hear about the foulups, bleeps, and blunders perpetrated by the Pentagon, in its relentless, insane pursuit of wars of conquest.

So Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, a word, please; there has to come a time when we desperately need, at the national level, to have a Department of Peace, to give the President alternative ways to go about his international agenda, rather than blowing people, and things, up.
And sir, forgive me, but that time... is now.

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved an amendment to the annual defense spending bill that would end the authorization for the use of military force (AUMF), as lawmakers grow increasingly concerned over the possibility of war with Iran.

The committee voted along party lines, 30-22, for Rep. Barbara Lee's (D-Calif.) amendment to sunset the AUMF, which has been used as legal justification for military operations against terrorist groups.

Passed days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it has been cited as a justification for conflict 41 times in 18 countries.

“In the last 18 years, it really has become increasingly clear that the AUMF has essentially provided the president, and that’s any president, the authority to wage war anywhere in the world at any time,” said Lee, who was the only member of Congress to vote against the AUMF when it was passed.

On May 16, 2008, near the town of Baiji in Iraq, 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna, US Army, murdered a prisoner. That was the verdict of the jury in his 2009 court martial, anyway. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but paroled in less than five. On May 6, 2019, US president Donald Trump pardoned Behenna.

As I write this, news reports indicate that Trump intends to celebrate Memorial Day by pardoning several other Americans convicted of (or accused of and not yet tried for) war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s a horrible idea for several reasons.

One reason is that it’s morally repugnant to excuse the commission of crimes, especially violent crimes, for no other reason than that the criminal is a government employee.

A second reason is that it is detrimental to the good order and and discipline of the US armed forces to excuse violations of law by American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines.

The US Press is spreading a false narrative of the events in Venezuela and the rise of tension between Washington and Teheran. Given the contradictory declarations of both sides, it is almost impossible to discern the truth. After having checked the facts, we need to deepen our analysis and take into account the opposition between the different political currents in these countries.

Kellyanne Conway snarked at Nancy Pelosi for being “really pro-woman” after the House Speaker said she only talks to the President, not his staff.

The two exchanged words after a tense moment in which President Trump walked into a meeting on infrastructure, blasted Democrats for conducting “phony investigations,” and promptly walked out.

Trump took issue with Pelosi’s claims that he had “engaged in a cover-up.”

After he bolted from the room, Pelosi reportedly told those in attendance that previous Presidents, unlike Trump, were willing to work with the opposition on infrastructure over the years. One source stated that Pelosi said she wasn’t surprised that Trump walked away.

Last week, the New York Times reported that the president was thinking seriously about pardoning military officers and one contractor who had been convicted of, or were facing charges for, committing war crimes, in time for announcement on Memorial Day. It seemed a grossly inappropriate way to celebrate a national holiday devoted to those who died for our country, not those who lived but slaughtered innocents. But then again, Trump does seem to conflate patriotism with jingoism, parades, and intimidating foreigners with threats of lethal violence.

It’s unclear what will happen on Memorial Day, but the Los Angeles Times is now reporting that a backlash has developed among current and former military leaders who consider the idea, well, kind of dishonorable:

George Conway has not slowed down in his criticism of President Donald Trump. The Republican attorney who happens to also be married to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway Wednesday afternoon responded to Trump’s explosive pity party with a tweet.

That tweet was the section of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that explains how the Vice President can step in to have a president removed from office in case he becomes unfit to serve.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked last Thursday in Moscow that no contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are expected at the G20 summit in Japan on June 28-29. “An encounter is not planned so far and there is no talk about a meeting,” Peskov said.

This remark was made in the run-up to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s forthcoming visit to Russia on April 12-14. There has been much speculation in the US media that a summit meeting between Trump and Putin was likely among Pompeo’s talking points with the Russian leadership.

At this point Trump is fighting a war with everyone not named Israel and Saudi Arabia. Even allies are not to be spared Trump’s wrath for all of their slights against his beloved United States.

In the greatest television series of the 1990’s, Babylon 5, one of the main characters, Londo, a weak and venal man, makes a deal with the devil and unleashes his dying empire’s worst impulses, to restore it to its former glory.

It’s geopolitical, geoeconomic war. Cold, so far, but now about to descend to deep freeze. The US National Security Strategy unmistakably spells it out. China is a strategic competitor and must be contained, no holds barred, on all fronts: economic, military and most of all, technological.

Enter the current, concerted offensive across the spectrum, from 5G and AI to moves attempting to prevent the coming of globalization 2.0. Add to it maximum pressure all over the world to prevent nations from joining the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the organizing foreign policy concept for China in the foreseeable future and the strategic road map for Eurasian integration up to 2049.

It’s all interconnected; the Trump administration’s trade war, Google blocking Huawei from the enhanced Android OS, the demonization of Belt and Road. It’s all about control of global supply chains and technological infrastructure.

President Donald Trump’s national security team has been leaking “intelligence” about Iranian threats for a week now in an attempt to justify escalating tensions, including moving American air attack assets to the Persian Gulf. But a closer look suggests that National Security Advisor John Bolton and other senior officials are trying to pull off an intelligence deception comparable to the fraudulent pretense for war in Iraq.

There’s also credible evidence that Israel could be playing a key role in this subterfuge.

On May 10, House Dem Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal subpoenaed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and IRS commissioner Charles Rettig to release Trump’s personal tax returns for the 2013-18 period, along with other returns for several of his businesses.

The move followed Mnuchin’s refusal to voluntarily comply with the House request, claiming it was politically motivated.

According to 1924 US legislation, the House and Senate Joint Committee on Taxation may request for examination anyone’s personal tax information.

Federal law also requires candidates for federal office, as well as current office holders and their senior staff — including congressional members, the president and vice president, along with their cabinet members, and senior administration staff — to comply with provisions of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. It applies to Supreme Court justices as well.

An American-led war on Iran is still a possibility, despite the fact that US President Donald Trump has openly expressed his lack of enthusiasm for it now, in contrast to his National Security Advisor John Bolton. Israel comes to mind in this instance, despite the unlikely possibility of Israel participating directly in a military confrontation, especially after Washington explicitly asked Israel not to interfere in the event of a war. This is similar to the position during the second Gulf War in 1991.

Representative Justin Amash (R-Mich.) declared that, in his opinion, President Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses. Doing this made Amash the first Republican to call for the process of removing the president from office to begin.

In a thread of tweets posted on May 18, the constitutionally consistent Amash first made public his assertion that “President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”

Following that tweet, Amash offered evidence that he said led him to this extraordinary conclusion.

First, Amash wrote that “Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.”

Joe Biden campaign…the less he’s seen/heard, the better he polls
#MeToo unintended consequences emerge
Tucker’s BAD FRAMING: Does “white privilege” exist?
GOOD FRAMING: Does everybody have a path to success?
People have different paths, but there’s a path for all
President Trump criticizes FOX for Mayor Pete’s Town Hall
Clever move that benefits both President and FOX
CBD shown to be effective at reducing heroin cravings
Matt Gaetz says PapaD tapes will show exculpatory evidence
Tapes were legally required to be part of FISA application
Loretta Lynch testified she never told Comey to call it a matter
Comey testified she instructed him to call it a matter
Persuasion from Iran
They’re distinguishing between POTUS and his advisors
“Try respect…it works” Iranian comment about US

The headline “Trump seeks to limit judges’ powers on injunctions after legal blows” seems ominous—another case of a petulant President seeking to shed longstanding norms when he can’t get what he wants. The reality is more complicated.

President Trump is looking to stop lower courts from being able to issue wide-ranging injunctions in a move that could dramatically limit the authority of judges.

The plan comes as groups opposed to Trump have been able to get several of his policies, including those seeking to limit immigration, put on hold by nationwide orders issued by lower courts in battles that were eventually decided by the Supreme Court.

If the current war of words between Iran and the United States has strange echoes of 2017, it's because the same US strategy is at work.

The Trump administration is using its North Korea playbook on Iran: Use a "maximum pressure" campaign -- the same nomenclature was used for Tehran and Pyongyang -- to box the adversary into a corner, then try to negotiate. Respond to a threat by escalating your own threat. Then negotiate to alleviate tensions and claim a win.

In North Korea's case, it was US President Donald Trump's now-infamous "fire and fury" ultimatum that kicked off the biggest tensions: "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen... he has been very threatening beyond a normal state."

Representative Amash…we have a Representative Amash?
Biden…the less media coverage he gets, the more we’ll like him?
President Trump tweet warns Iran to never threaten us again
Public warning, and US public seems to support if needed
Does Iran want to give the US…an excuse to act?
Does Iran want the US to say “all options are open”?
AOC on climate change solutions…”especially the new technologies”
AOC is open to nuclear…especially the new technologies?
AOC is acknowledging risk/reward balance favors nuclear?
Social media sent a message to government…it was received
Simultaneous, well deserved “pat on the back”
Comey’s email to staff…Brennan INSISTS dossier be included?
Wouldn’t Brennan have known intel was from Russian Intel?
Wouldn’t Brennan have known it would affect our election?

Saudi Arabia does not want war but will not hesitate to defend itself against Iran, a top Saudi diplomat said Sunday after the kingdom’s energy sector was targeted this past week amid heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf.

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, warned Iran that it will face destruction if it seeks a fight, while Iranian officials said their country isn’t looking for war. Trump spoke after a rocket hit near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, spoke a week after four oil tankers— two of them Saudi — were targeted in an alleged act of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and days after Iran-allied Yemeni rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

Former Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell in the George W. Bush administration, warns in a new The Real News interview with host Sharmini Peries that the United States government is driving down a “highway to war” with China — a war for which Wilkerson sees no sound justification.

The drive toward war is not undertaken in response to a real threat posed by China to the people of America. Instead, argues Wilkerson, the US government is moving toward war for reasons related to money for both the military and the broader military-industrial complex, as well to advance President Donald Trump’s domestic political goals.

A report out of the New York Times which alleges President Donald Trump and his top adviser Jared Kushner were laundering money to Russian individuals has been shot down by a Kushner Companies spokeswoman who says the failing publication “continues to create dots that just don’t connect.”

The likelihood of a U.S. war with Iran is increasing, despite alternately isolationist and provocative messages coming from Trump administration officials.

The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln is now sitting off the coast of Iran, and the U.S. has asked its non-emergency personnel to leave nearby Iraq. Meanwhile, there is a debate about images of what the New York Times described as “missiles on small boats in the Persian Gulf that were put on board by Iranian paramilitary forces.” Whether those missiles photographed were offensive or defensive is important in determining whether the U.S. is misrepresenting Iran’s actions as threatening.

Border psychology: Telling people we’ll be sending them back soon
A simple tweet that reduces those swarming our border
President Trump uses psychology to protect our homeland
President Trump has a highly criticized style, BUT…
Future Presidents will be compared to his energy, results
President Trump does counter-narrative things ALL the time
Enemy press and Dems push “racist” narratives about him
President’s actions and priorities counter their narratives
The essential claim for needing immigration reform
If your incentives aren’t correct, immigration is a disaster
GOOD FRAMING: Heartbeat bills, a beating heart equals life
GOOD FRAMING: immigration policies like those in…Canada, Japan
Merit based policies like our friends in Canada and Japan

The Stand up to Trump campaign expects a large number of people to turn up for protests against the state visit of US President Donald Trump to the United Kingdom, the movement's spokesman, Denis Fernando, told Sputnik.

According to a recent YouGov poll, 13 percent of London's 8-million population are 'likely' to join the protests.

President Trump on Friday asserted that his 2016 campaign had been "conclusively spied on" by the Obama administration while calling the charge akin to "treason" and demanding jail time for those behind it.

In a tweet, the president said "nothing like this has ever happened" while calling for prison sentences.

"A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!" he continued.

President Trump’s 2018 income released
Fake News CNN…reports it in a misleading way
His 2018 income is less, but close to what he made last year
Alabama abortion law
The View says the law was made entirely by men
The law is being delegitimized by The View
Credible matters, the law needs to seen as credible
Joel Pollack’s Breitbart article on China trade negotiations
President Trump is educating the country on trade issues
100% of Democrats thought a trade war would crumble US
50% of the Republicans thought a trade war would crumble US
Now we know we can go forever with tariffs if necessary
President Trump wasn’t just right…he was OMG right about China trade
Chuck Schumer is on President Trump’s side on this
Immigration reform with a merit based system…LIKE CANADA

In an interview with the German daily Zueddeutche Zeitung ahead of the European elections Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Europe to unite and stand up to the US, Russia, and China. Amid the ongoing tussle with Washington over higher import tariffs and the US pulling out of the Iran deal, one of Europe’s most powerful politicians stated that “the old certainties of the postwar order no longer apply” expressing confidence that “Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world”.

The schism between the United States and Europe over Iran bears the hallmarks of their friction over Iraq prior to the 2003 US-led invasion. Their current dispute is mainly over means not ends, but could have major implications for transatlantic relations and the Middle East.

CNN reporter Jim Acosta was caught in an egregious lie in reporting on the President’s new immigration plan, and Trump’s campaign immediately called him out.

Trump delivered remarks in the Rose Garden offering his vision for modernizing the immigration system to make America stronger.

Acosta relayed those comments and in one particular segment falsely reported that the President painted all asylum seekers with the “broad brush” of making frivolous claims to gain asylum in the United States.

Annual Presidential Financial Disclosure coming soon:
CNN notes his finances might be good, because he’s a criminal
CNN notes his finances might be bad, because he’s a loser
New books being published about President Trump
They’ve run out of all the “good” complaints about Trump
Authors are resorting to allegedly non-fiction books
Lots of anonymous sources…or fiction
FOX FAKE NEWS story: AOC thinks Alabama women get punished
AOC Alabama abortion law tweet is being misinterpreted
She knows law applies to the provider…not the woman
Iran unspecified danger, major military assets being moved to area
Why are we preparing for war? Shouldn’t we know?
Semi-Effective Immigration Framing…
Immigration is bringing in crime
Increasing crime only influences conservatives
Powerful Immigration Framing…

In the aftermaths of both the First and Second World Wars national borders were readjusted to suit the victors and entirely new countries were created from the ruins of the empires that had collapsed as a result of the conflict. The process continued with the end of the Soviet Union but the new states were constituted within an already existing ethnic and linguistic framework.

More recently, the United States has engaged in imperialism-lite, with “regime change” programs seeking to lop off the governments of existing nations by coercion or through military invasion, replacing them with Quislings supportive of Washington’s continuing dominance exercised from “over the horizon.”

White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a Wednesday letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) that Congress doesn't get a "do over" of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and others conducted by the Justice Department.

Nadler has led recent efforts in the Democratic-controlled House to continue, which are set to include hearings with Mueller himself, along with key witnesses in his investigation.

"Congressional investigations are intended to obtain information to aid in evaluating potential legislation, not to harass political opponents or to pursue an unauthorized 'do-over' of exhaustive law enforcement investigations conducted by the Department of Justice," reads the 12-page letter laying out a legal argument for why Nadler is overstepping his bounds.

Following his meeting with the Austrian president, Vladimir Putin told reporters that the United States has been attempting to derail certain projects involving Russia, including Nord Stream 2, and weighed in on the escalating situation around the crumbling Iran nuclear deal.

The United States is trying to impose its services on other countries, both in the economic and defence spheres, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen on Wednesday.

“As for the attempts of our American partners to derail certain agreements, some projects — I mean Nord Stream 2 and some other projects, we have repeatedly said this and want to reiterate: these are attempts of unfair competition under various political pretexts", he said.

International worries that the Trump administration is sliding toward war with Iran flared into the open Tuesday amid skepticism about its claims that the Islamic Republic poses a growing threat to the US and its allies in the Persian Gulf and beyond .

The US military rebutted doubts expressed by a British general about such a threat. US President Donald Trump denied a report that the administration has updated plans to send more than 100,000 troops to counter Iran if necessary. But Trump then stirred the controversy further by saying: “Would I do that? Absolutely.”

Beto’s cringeworthy, white privilege apologies on The View
Mark Cuban doesn’t think ANY Democrat candidate has a chance
The Democrat candidates would look a LOT more appealing IF…
…we weren’t comparing all of them to President Trump
Border news, almost none anymore, why?
Did coverage stop because President was correct all along?
Does border news now support the President? Confirm him?
Political left has GOALS
The problem is…how do you achieve those goals?
The left’s failure: lack of practical SYSTEMS to achieve goals
Political right uses SYSTEMS to achieve GOALS
SYSTEMS of the right are processes to achieve desired goals
Brennan says him and Clapper didn’t want to use Steele Dossier
Brennan says Comey pushed to use it for FISA
14 year old ran a poll on whether she should kill herself
69% said yes

President Donald Trump is seeking an additional $15 billion in U.S. subsidies in an effort to protect farmers from the devastating impact of his trade war with China. That’s on top of $12 billion already earmarked for the farmers to help them weather the fallout.

That would be an additional bill for U.S. taxpayers already shouldering the cost of increased tariffs in the form of higher costs for products and parts from China.

Trump revealed the subsidy figure in a tweet Friday. He suggested the government use the funds to buy agricultural products to ship to other nations for humanitarian aid, though setting up such a system would be extremely complicated. In his most recent budget proposal, Trump proposed eliminating three food aid programs, Politico noted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he had the impression President Donald Trump wanted to restore relations between the US and Russia after the Mueller inquiry exonerated him.

“As you know, just a few days ago, I had the pleasure of talking with the US president on the phone,” Putin told Pompeo on Tuesday, as the two met in Sochi. “I got the impression that the [US] president was inclined to re-establish Russian-American relations and contacts to resolve together the issues that are of mutual interest to us.”

As his limo carried him to work at the White House Monday, Larry Kudlow could not have been pleased with the headline in The Washington Post: "Kudlow Contradicts Trump on Tariffs."

The story began: "National Economic Council Director Lawrence Kudlow acknowledged Sunday that American consumers end up paying for the administration's tariffs on Chinese imports, contradicting President Trump's repeated inaccurate claim that the Chinese foot the bill."

President Donald Trump has denied a New York Times report that US officials are discussing a military plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter any attack or nuclear weapons acceleration by Iran.

"I think it's fake news, OK? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

The U.S. prepared to hit China with new tariffs even as President Donald Trump said he’ll meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at next month’s G-20 summit, an encounter that could prove pivotal in a deepening clash over trade.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office Monday released a list of about $300 billion worth of Chinese goods including children’s clothing, toys, mobile phones and laptops that Trump has threatened to hit with a 25% tariff.

Heard it with my own ears…saw it with my own eyes!
No…you didn’t, just watch FULL video, read FULL transcript
HOAX VICTIMS: I REFUSE to view proof that I’m wrong!
Dismantling a person’s world view in real time…
…triggers cognitive dissonance
NOBODY says… “I’ll look at the transcript, see if you’re correct”
2 Jewish people I’ve personally spoken too…
…attended the Charlottesville event, thought it was about statues
They obviously did NOT support Nazis at the event
“Fine People” HOAX is a LOAD BEARING WALL for the other HOAXES
Debunk that HOAX, other HOAXES will be naturally challenged
Troll indicator flags
Cat or cartoon icon for their account
Followers are around a couple hundred followers
They attack the target person…NOT the person’s argument

The US has already increased its military presence in the region amid growing tensions with Iran, sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf. However, a recent New York Times report suggested that the military presence could expand to the level at the time of the Iraq invasion.

US President Donald Trump slammed the report about a possible deployment of 120,000 troops to the Middle East in order to counter Iran as "fake news" and expressed hope that such a plan won't be needed. At the same time, he said that he would "absolutely" send 120,000 troops more to the Middle East, or even more, if necessary.

"Would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that", Trump said.

There’s a lot of impatience with the Palestinian issue… People have been funding this thing for a long time. They’ve gotten more aid than any group of people in history, and what we have to show for it is really not much at this point, unfortunately.

Jared Kushner was actually wrong, critically wrong. The Washington Post did a fact check on his claim of “more aid than any group of people in history” and reached an interesting conclusion. “Now, let’s compare the Palestinians with the Israelis”, wrote Glenn Kessler. His conclusion:

Israel has been getting an average of $3.5 billion a year for 66 years — just from the United States — while the Palestinians have received about $1.7 billion a year from international donors.

Donald Trump’s obsession with tariffs may be based on one of his few core beliefs. Or it may be part of a grand strategy to win votes. Either way, triggering a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies represents a huge gamble ahead of next year’s US presidential election.

Biden’s possible VP running mate, Kamala
Some suspended conservatives are now back on Twitter
My defense of AOC
AOC and Tlaib are getting the “Fine People” HOAX treatment
Hyperbole taken literally or out of context for political gain
My defense of Tlaib’s “calming feeling about the Holocaust”
Don’t you automatically know that can’t possibly be true?
Out of context quote, looks HORRIBLE
Clarification is buried deep in articles about it
Chuck Schumer tells Pompeo to tell Putin to stay out of our elections
…Because nobody has already communicated that?
…Because nobody has thought of telling him that?
…Because Putin has no way of knowing we would be upset?
THE MEANING OF WORDS...is now driving the news
Russia Collusion: Spying or an investigation?

Trump destroyed his chance at being a successful president by the stupid appointments he has made. At the moment he is being set up by his national security advisor John Bolton and Israel for a war with Iran.

S.E. Cupp asks why Kamala can’t seem to get traction
Have you seen Kamala’s tweets and the way she speaks?
She doesn’t seem to know how to “unlawyer”
Biden’s approach to climate change is…let’s go slow?
How does he sell that to his base with 12 year fears?
President Trump tweets for Iran to call him
He’ll treat their leaders with respect…while negotiating tough
NO Democrats have gone in to read the unredacted Mueller report
Multiple Republicans have gone in to read it
Not one single Democrat wants to read it, nobody is interested?
No curiosity, NOTHING useful for Dems in Mueller’s report?
DJ Akira the Don tweets about power of music to control people
The ability of music to manipulate emotions and behavior
NPR piece on Gen IV nuclear power

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s anti-Iran threats are nothing but “bombastic” comments stemming from the same war rhetoric already used by Washington against Libya, Syria and Iraq, which itself receives “war marching orders from Tel Aviv,” says an American political analyst.

Rodney Martin, a former congressional staffer based in Scottsdale, Arizona, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV after Pompeo cancelled his scheduled meeting with German officials in Berlin to pay an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, where he continued attempts to sow discord between the two neighboring countries of Iran and Iraq.

The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, owned by top Trump donor Sheldon Adelson, has published in Hebrew a leaked draft of the Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century” for the Israel-Palestine conflict. The draft was given to the newspaper by an official from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which is currently headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The plan, which has been drafted by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, is expected to be released this June after the conclusion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to Mondoweiss.

First Daughter Ivanka Trump on Friday shared a photo of herself alongside David Malpass, the newly-minted World Bank President, with a document titled "National Security Strategy" visible on a coffee table, according to a screengrab of her Twitter profile page taken by journalist Luke O'Neil.

Ivanka has apparently deleted the image for some reason and re-uploaded a version where the part with the document has been cut out.

Today on TRUNEWS we discuss the prospect that the USS Abraham Lincoln may be dispatched to the bottom of the Persian Gulf by a False Flag operation blamed on the mullahs in Tehran. We detail how past incidents like the Gulf of Tonkin, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the attacks on 9/11 have been used to trick Americans into supporting the next war. Rick Wiles, Edward Szall, Matt Skow, Kerry Kinsey. Airdate: 5/10/19

Democrat troll, Vic Berger’s behavior appears horribly abusive
Attacked Mike Cernovich’s wife and child
Gilead’s MAJOR donation of AIDS drugs to US for the poor
Only Washington Examiner shows up in Google search?
Is coverage being throttled, suppressed?
China trade negotiations
Is this a stock buying opportunity?
Kamala’s lawyerly boring tweet
Nothing she does, feels genuine
20 years from now…what will they say about President Trump?
Will they say nobody was better?
more transparent, more persuasive, best rally speaker?
Gifted deal maker, friendly while negotiating HARD?
Delegitimized the FAKE NEWS industry?
Raised awareness they’re an enemy of the people?
President Trump accuses John Kerry of Logan Act violations
Kerry says he’s just “keeping in touch” with Iran
Does that sound even slightly honest to anyone?

President Donald Trump has seen enough of Patrick Shanahan, and liked what he saw.

After months of expectations, Shanahan, an industry veteran who was thrust into the Pentagon’s top spot after Jim Mattis resigned, is the president’s official pick as the next secretary of defense.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Shanahan’s nomination was “based on his outstanding service to the country and his demonstrated ability to lead” the Defense Department. He has served as acting Defense Secretary since Jan. 1.

"My Administration just secured a historic donation of HIV prevention drugs from Gilead to help expand access to PrEP for the uninsured and those at risk. Will help us achieve our goal of ending the HIV epidemic in America!"

It’s getting tiresome watching Donald Trump’s bipolar presidency. It seems he can’t let a day go by without making some massive announcement to raise tariffs, threaten sanctions or overthrow a government.

Every 24 hours is another exercise in chasing the Trump Reality Show around. Every lull in the perpetual news cycle has to be seized upon to create more chaos so he can validate his insanity.

Trump has so many plates spinning there’s no way he’s actually thinking anything through. Take the latest fiasco, Chinese trade talks.

One day “Talks are going well,” the next “We’re raising tariffs to 25%.”

History in the making, inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C: We are in the embassy to protect it from a takeover by an unelected group of Guaidó supporters, a takeover that would dangerously escalate the conflict.

This has never happened before in history, a group of Americans in a embassy in trying to stop a coup.

On Sunday, Donald Trump re-tweeted a post by the arch-reactionary evangelical preacher and prominent Trump confidant Jerry Falwell, Jr. calling for the president to extend his term from the constitutionally mandated four years to six.

Referring to the Democratic Party-led effort to label Trump a Russian collaborator, the tweet read:

“Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term as pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup.”

By re-tweeting this proposal, Trump is, in effect, threatening to cancel the 2020 elections and declare himself above the law. Article II of the US Constitution states that the president “shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years.”

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, one of the first lawmakers who called for President Trump's impeachment, expressed his fears on Saturday that if Democrats don't pursue his ousting, Trump "will get re-elected."

Green was asked on MSNBC about how unpopular impeachment was among voters. MSNBC correspondent Phillip Mena pressed him with recent polling numbers from Quinnipiac showing 66 percent of voters were against impeachment -- including 38 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents.

"Are you concerned that impeachment talk may actually help the president's re-election?" Mena asked.

This Article examines whether congressional committees enjoy the unrestricted authority to demand a President’s tax returns. It concludes that they do not. Though a federal statute seemingly compels the IRS to furnish, on request, anyone’s tax returns to some congressional committees, a statute cannot transcend the constitutional limits on Congress’s investigative authority. Congress enjoys a near-automatic right to review a President’s tax returns only in the impeachment context.

After analyzing the general constitutional principles, the Article briefly examines the House Ways & Means Committee’s disputed request for President Trump’s tax return information.

So I sit down after dinner to watch some political shows on TV. What are they talking about? The Mueller Report. Still talking about it, still getting heated about it. I get to thinking about the opportunity cost of all the anti-Trump passion that is still, after more than two years, roiling our national legislature. Two issues, immigration and Higher Ed, are most urgently in need of legislative and/or Executive Action. We’re not getting it, though, as long as so much of our political energy is going into this tiresome campaign to find President Trump guilty of something—anything.

Gun control proposal: Make it illegal for Democrats to own guns
Why would Dems object? Solves half the problem
Another Proposal: ALL gun owners REQUIRED to join NRA
They promote gun safety, responsible use, important stuff
NRA membership is essentially gun control and safety
Jerry Nadler and Congressional Oversight
Manufacturing crimes and stalking President Trump
People are being manipulated into committing crimes…
…without even realizing they’re committing a crime
NYT legally obtained some…illegally obtained, Presidential tax info
If you understand business and taxes, smart, legal tax stuff
If you understand finance, nothing unusual in his taxes
China is smart, nobody says they aren’t
They’re stalling for time, wearing down the other side

The FBI's use of "confidential human informants" to obtain information from Trump campaign officials under false pretenses was straight up spying, according to the CIA's former head of counterintelligence, James Olson, a 30-year agency veteran who served under six presidents, and who once conducted an undercover overseas mission with his wife.

A US aircraft carrier group and bomber task force were deployed to the Middle East after a tip-off on a “credible threat” from Iran, which came, conveniently vague and timely, from Israeli spy agency Mossad, it has been reported.
At an April 15 meeting in Washington, Israeli National Security Council chief Meir Ben-Shabbat passed along a warning to US National Security Advisor John Bolton, senior Israeli officials told Axios. The information Bolton received was left vague: the attack could hit a US target in the Persian Gulf, or maybe Saudi Arabia, or maybe the UAE.

President Donald Trump floated the idea of providing a waiver for military athletes who hope to turn pro before their service time is up.
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, the president suggested that academy athletes could finish their military obligations after any pro career would end.

“They’ll serve their time after they’re done with professional sports,” Mr. Trump said on Monday, the Washington Times reported.

Trump noted that the current rules prevent military schools such as West Point from recruiting the best players.

Canada's claim over the Northwest Passage is "illegitimate," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday in a major speech to the Arctic Council that Canadian experts called both provocative and frequently inaccurate.

Pompeo offered his characterization during a wide-ranging speech in Finland in which he also warned against China's increased Arctic presence, saying it threatens North American security and could be harmful to the environment.

Radical Representative Ilhan Omar declared herself an absolute “nightmare” and President Trump’s “biggest nemesis” in an interview for the Huffington Post.

Omar, completely unaware of the fact that it is the ignorance behind freshman Reps such as herself, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that drives criticisms against them, said the reason she is vilified is that the President seeks to “marginalize our communities.”

No dear, he seeks to amplify everything you say. Because each time you open your mouth with anti-Semitic rants, defense of dictators, and sympathy for terrorists, it helps to all but guarantee reelection in 2020.

“Clearly, I am a nightmare ? because [Trump] can’t stop really thinking about ways that he can continue to use my identity to marginalize our communities,” Omar claimed.

Why is the Trump administration escalating its economic war against Iran, a dangerous policy that could eventually lead to a shooting war and trigger a world recession? Iran in 2019 is no danger to U.S. interests anywhere. Tehran is not threatening American shipping, or military bases; its allies, like Hizbollah in Lebanon, have not targeted U.S. civilians or soldiers for years.

The U.S. is squeezing Iran mainly because Israel wants it to. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a de facto alliance with Saudi Arabia, and has warm relations with the other Gulf states and with the Abdel Fattah el-Sisi dictatorship in Egypt. Iran is the only regional power that is deterring him from completely annexing the West Bank. Iran is also a major supporter of Hamas, the resistance movement in Gaza.

Remember the madcap scene in 'Apocalypse Now', the 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola about American genocidal rampaging in Vietnam? "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", bellows the psychotic military commander as US choppers strafe and destroy a Vietnamese village.

The same kind of unhinged death-wishing is reminiscent in the Trump administration. President Trump is on an infernal roll and his twisted supporters are loving it.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned China and Russia to “respect our interests” in the Arctic, or face the consequences.

Frozen and desolate, the Arctic region looks set to be the next frontier for competition between the US, Russia, and China. Speaking at a meeting of the Arctic Council in Finland on Monday, Pompeo launched a broadside against the US’ competitors in the region, particularly China.

“Arctic seaways could become the 21st century Suez and Panama canals,” America’s top diplomat stated.

US President Donald Trump has proved himself not to be an agent of the American people, but an agent of Israel.

With his administration’s decision to send an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, the latest of his escalations in the Middle East, it is only appropriate that he be required to register as an agent of a foreign government.

It is the law that in order to work in the US on behalf of a foreign government, you need to register as such. Recently, there were two high-profile cases where people have been sent to prison for failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, namely, those of Paul Manafort and Maria Butina.

As we are all too well aware, Donald Trump has done nothing for America.

A recent publication by The Hill newspaper claims that the events in Venezuela were a challenge for the administration of US President Donald Trump.

According to the article, the US leader and his National Security adviser, John Bolton, developed a tense relationship due to divergences of opinion about a possible military intervention in Venezuela.

The author cites the example in which Trump claimed that US influence on the formation of foreign state institutions ended, calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of troops from Syria. In contrast, Bolton tries to persuade the country’s leader to use force.

For Paul Pozner, an expert on Venezuelan affairs at Clark University, Trump prefers to join a position that strengthens his position in the US, and interference in Venezuela will have a negative impact on it.

President Trump's approval ratings are on the rise since the release of the Mueller report - with CNN begrudgingly admitting the percentage of people who approve of how Trump is handling the economy "is the highest number we've ever seen."

The Illuminati bankers staged the coup to give FDR credibility as Wall Street's nemesis. As I will show, they routinely used such tricks to build up their Presidential puppets.

The conspirators (members of the "American Liberty League") approached retired Major General Smedley Butler to use 500,000 veterans to remove FDR and become a Mussolini-like figure.

butler-medals.jpgSmedley Butler was absolutely the LAST man you would approach if you were serious. The most decorated Marine in history, Butler recently had been forced to resign by Herbert Hoover for calling Mussolini a "mad dog" and warning that his fascist cohorts "were about to break loose in Europe." Butler refused to retract his remarks and thus became a national hero overnight.

However, if you wanted someone to expose your coup as he did; (thought it "smacked of treason,") Butler was the go-to person.

US President Donald Trump has contradicted his national security team on pushing for a military intervention against Venezuela, saying he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin share the goal of a peaceful end to the crisis in the Central American nation.

"He is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he'd like to see something positive happen for Venezuela, and I feel the same way. We want to get some humanitarian aid. Right now people are starving," Trump told reporters on Friday.

Trump's reference to Russia’s hands-off approach towards Venezuela stands in contrast to insistence by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Russia is part of the problem in Caracas. Pompeo claimed earlier last week that President Nicolás Maduro was about to flee Venezuela until Russia persuaded him to stay.

Bolton: US deploying bombers to Middle East in warning to Iran
US national security adviser says move is response to 'a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings'.

The United States is deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to send a clear message to Iran that any attack on US interests or its allies will be met with "unrelenting force".

The notorious US mercenary firm Blackwater has returned to Iraq to train thousands of ISIL terrorists in the Washington-occupied Ein al-Assad base in al-Anbar province, a Lebanese newspaper reported.
The Arabic-language al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Saturday that Blackwater, along with other security firms, has returned to Iraq since the start of 2018 after Washington's heavy pressures on Baghdad to issue a relevant license.

According to the report, a source close to the US charge de affairs in Iraq Judy Hood said that Blackwater has transferred the US military equipment from Jordan to Western al-Anbar province in full coordination with Ein al-Assad base, adding that the company is now training the ISIL terrorists in the base.